Battle

c. 1492
Marble, 84,5 x 90,5 cm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence

The Battle is the second piece of Michelangelo. It was carved in white Carrara marble for Lorenzo de' Medici and left unfinished at his death. Variously identified as the Battle of the Cantaurs and the Rape of Dejaniera or Battle of Hercules and the Centaurs, it reflects Michelangelo's study of late Roman sarcophagi, Bertoldo, the Pisani and Pollaiolo.